The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-15
CREM lated.
Iobn Tyler's Remains Consigned to
the Crematory Oven.
Fron tte Cinctnlletti EnQMirer.

noon wendell its way we stwardly along
browne street, and the people along the
solemn line of march stood in their door
Yards and wondered where the cortege
could be going, as there are no cemeteries
:, that direction. The procession was pro-
cocding to the crematory, which stands on
the brow of the hill to the east of
fGxmyth avenue, strongly reminding the
Loho1der of the ruins of some
old feudaI castle. The cortege wended its
,yav to the crematory instead of the Gene
tary. in accordance with the ante norton
rsnnest of the deceased. The deceased was
John TYLER, of Milldale, KY, who had gone
and fen He claimed to be a nephew of
President Tyler. He was a man of some
nronertv and means, and was noted in the
Community in which he resided for certain
acrpntricities. During the last few years of
his life he was an enthusiast on
THE SUBJECT OF CREMATION,
and never failed to visit the sick of his
uairhborhood to advise them that if the
worst should come the wisest disposition
that they could have made of their remains
would be to have them cremated He was
stakeholder in the crematory in which his
own remains were yesterday incinerated.
Before his death the deceased, in keeping
with the eccentricities for which he was
noted, gave directions that his body should
not be placed on ice, and that his coffin
should be the plainest and most inexpensive
TO be found This last request, at least, was
certainly carried out most conscientiouslv.
II was about , o'clock yesterday afternoon
when the hearse and two carriages contain
ing mourners drew up at the crematory
door. Tho news that there was to be q
cremation had gone abroad and fully
TWO HUNDRED PEOPLE
stood about in a roasting sun awaiting the
arrival of the remains. The mourners car
ried with them glass urn in which to re-
ceive the ashes after the incarceration. The
great furnace was i'll readiness to receive
the body, the stoker standing at its hot and
glowing mouth feeding it coke. The very
Dlain coffin was taken from the hearse and
carried into one of the little ante-rooms of
the crematory There the body was taken
from the coffin by two attendants, denuded
of its shroud and wrapped in an alum
soaked winding sheet
THE BODY
was placed on an iron car-cradle, the at
tendants called it.
The car, or truck, is four-wheeled affair.
about the length of the human body, the fiat
iron bars of which it is constructed crossing
each other at right angles, leaving regular
series of open squares. Through these open
spaces the ashes drop into the bed of fire be-
low, according as the body incinerates. 1t
is only the small proportion of the ashes
clinging to the bars that are preserved for
the friends. The body, wrapped up COM
petely head and all, in the alum-soaked
winding sheet, was laid upon the car, and
the car with a vigorous push was rolled into
the fiery furnace. The body remains on the
car during the incarceration Very little
privacy attended the cremation. All who
applied were admitted, except perhaps the
mischievous and irreverent small boy, who
is wanted nowhere, especially where the
presence of death imposes the duty of de-
corum 1t was the writer's
FIRST EXPERIENCE
at a cremation, and, as human nature is
pretty much the same his own feelings will
no doubt fairly illustrate the emotions of all
present. The scene awakened none of that
awe, that sadness, that serious reflection,
that determination to, in the future, think
less of the here and more of the hereafter,
that is inspired by the sight of coffin being
lowered into the dark, damp grave, and the
sound of the earth falling upon the lid as
the grave-diggers cover 1t up from mortal
eyes forever The scene awakened no nObler
emotion than one of curiosity. 1t inspired
no horror, no sadness, no thought of death,
none of these peculiar feelings that the
sight of a burial stirs up in the breast. 1t
was simply
FEELING OF CURIOSITY
that was experienced, an interest such as you
feel IN ceremony or operation that you
never saw before. Simply that and nothing
more. The crowd that stood about discussed
the operation in a matter-of-fact way, and
with cold-blooded curiosity, as if it were
spectacular exhibition prepared for their en-
tertainment, and not the solemn ceremony
Of ashes to ashes" Ina few moments after
the body had been placed in the oven blue
name began to play about the winding
sheet III which the remains were wrapped
What's the idea of wrapping the body in
an alum-soaked sheet p was asked of the at
tendant
Alum resists fire" was the reply, "and
While the sheet is comparatively uninjured
Dy the heat, the body within its folds is rap
iidly incinerating. The idea is to conceal the
pody during the process of cremation, in Or
uer TO shut out from the sight of the friends
THE UNPLEASANT SPECTACLE
OF seeing the departed ones flesh baking to
crisp and the bones burning to ashes.
The heat of the furnace was almost incon-
celFably intense. 1t was at such degree
OF white heat that glance within revealed
lhe em6ers fairly glistening like snow be-
noath the cold rays of January sun. The
@illPerature was up to $500. Still, so
tilicK are the brick walls of the oven that
one could stand within six inches of it with
comfort, except when the stoker opened the
iTreaVy iron door to shovel in more coke.
IWlce, at the request of the mourners, the
attendant opened the door and allowed them
70 look at the body.
THE WIDOW,
" very pleasing looking woman, of about So
-sIe was the second wife of the deceased
poked III with the others. She seemed well
tledSed with the process of incineration,
a si after the second look she remarked that
que believed cremation to be better than
nurlal and that when her time comes she
suGSSed she'd have her remains disposed of
10 Ier husbands were. The mourners de
p aI after the body had been in the oven
" vi half an hour, leaving orders that
Will Viie cremation was completed
THE ASHES
IIuytlG be placed III the glass urn they had
VVy!ought and sent to a certain drug store on
'ul T street, where they would be called for.
,o. ~ won't he long job" remarked an at
G%u'ant after the friends hal raken their
ttoIIPIrt'Ire, las he was skinny man. 1t
t H'neS much longer TO cremate heshy men
, tDo,' skinny ones. BY the way" the at
,Iait continued, "we're going to adopt
PA r,iit mere that will prevent such terrible
W. NM, X as the one thnt nearly occurred in
LadT YORK yesterday when woman, who
w n,,' peeh IN trance, returned to animation
tl,,,a. ~ Tue crematory, and about to be